


R5- Seeing Red

by thudworm



Series: Tony Stark Bingo 2019 [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Post-Endgame, no spoilers for endgame, timestone shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 05:12:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18203984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thudworm/pseuds/thudworm
Summary: Inspired bythis poston tumblr:there’s tons of fics w howard appearing in the future and steve or tony telling howard how badly he fucked up but consider: rhodey taking one look at that piece of shit and fucking DECKING him in front of god and everybody





	R5- Seeing Red

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally meant to be much more Tony/Rhodey, but it somehow ended up as Tony & Rhodey 
> 
> However, I do have plans for a pair of fills for the Bingo that will be undeniably Tony/Rhodey, so keep an eye out if that's your thing.

Strange had warned them that this would happen, but none of them had believed it until they had seen it happen in front of them. To be fair, ghostly echoes of people from your past showing up was the sort of thing that needed to be seen to be believed. 

Tony hadn’t been all that interested in the mystical mumbo-jumbo Strange had used to explain it, but the general gist of it was simple enough to understand. It was a side-effect of the universe setting itself back to normal after the surviving Avengers had defeated Thanos and used the gauntlet to undo the Snap, and it was only those involved in reversing the damage who were going to be faced with their pasts.

Fortunately there was no risk of altering the past; it wasn’t time travel with someone coming forward in time and then returning, it was merely a reflection of their spirit? Essence? Soul? Tony wasn’t sure what the right term was, nor did he particularly care. He just wanted the whole thing to be over and done with so he could have a drink or three and try to forget the horror that his life had become since Thanos’s minions had first appeared on Earth. 

The first person to have an echo of their past appear to them was Steve. One second there was empty space, the next Margaret Carter was standing there. Tony recognised the uniform she was wearing from photos of her during WW2, and she looked younger than Tony had ever known her as his Aunt Peggy. 

She didn’t look like she was really here, there was a ghost-like translucence to her, but apparently these echoes were solid enough to touch. Steve proved so when he took hold of her hand before wrapping her up in a hug, and it looked like she was holding on to him just as hard. Tony could hear their voices, but they were just above a whisper meaning he couldn’t make out the words. The hitch in Steve’s shoulders suggested he was sobbing quietly, not that Tony could blame the guy. 

“Alright, let’s give them some privacy, I’m sure Steve doesn’t want us gawking at him.” 

The group shuffled their way to the other side of the main room, and then it was an awkward case of everyone trying to ‘act normal.’ Conversation was stilted, and everyone was very obviously trying to avoid looking in Steve’s direction. When he rejoined the group about an hour later they all followed his lead and didn’t bring up what had happened. 

The second person to be faced with their past was Natasha. The sudden manifestation of the Winter Soldier startled them all, even though it was to be expected after Peggy, with more than a few people reaching for weapons on instinct. 

It was very much the Winter Soldier, not Bucky Barnes, who had appeared. Seeing them standing next to each other made the difference between them horrifyingly clear, the dead-eyed stare of the Soldier was unnerving.

Natasha snapped something in Russian, something like ‘follow me’ Tony assumed, and the three of them entered the briefing room. 

“JARVIS, engage privacy mode for them, I somehow doubt they want us gawking at them.” 

“Done, Sir.” The glass walls shifted to black, and there would be no audio or visual security recordings made of the conversation. And if, an hour later, the two who emerged had suspiciously red eyes, everyone else present knew better than to comment on it. 

After having seen Aunt Peggy and the Winter Soldier appearing, Tony maybe should have been prepared to deal with someone from his past showing up. And it’s not like there wasn’t a long list of possibilities to choose from.  Obie Stane. Yinsen. But the sight of Howard standing there, looking like he had just stepped out from the BARF simulation,  like he had the last time Tony had seen him before his death , was a complete shock. 

 

*

 

It had taken Rhodey years to get Tony to even consider just the possibility that maybe he had PTSD from his time in captivity. Or from when Stane ripped his heart out of his chest. Or from flying a nuke through a wormhole. Or any of the dozen other fucked up situations that had happened since Iron Man was born. 

Rhodey knew that there was no chance whatsoever that Tony would ever consider the possibility that a childhood full of Howard Stark’s A+ parenting had also left its scars on him. But Rhodey remembered Tony as a scared 17 year old, who would flinch at raised voices in his direction. Not to mention the self worth issues, Tony unable to believe anyone was interested in him as a person, not for what he could do for them. 

Young Tony had already discovered alcohol as a coping mechanism when Rhodey first met him, and it hadn’t taken him long to graduate to other, harder drugs to self medicate. The drugs had been the bad influence of shitty friends who were interested more in Tony’s money, but he’d been so desperate for acceptance that nothing Rhodey said on the matter could convince him away from them. 

So it was not an exaggeration to say that Rhodey had been wishing for a moment like this for over three decades. 

Everyone else was staring at Tony or Howard, waiting to see what their reaction would be, but Rhodey didn’t hesitate. He stepped forward and punched Howard straight in the nose, and felt the satisfying crunch as it broke. Before anyone had a chance to react Howard vanished as suddenly as he had appeared. 

There was a stunned silence, and no one seemed to know what to do next. Rhodey just wrapped an arm around Tony’s shoulders and steered him in the direction of the workshop. Once the shock wore off there would be questions for Tony that he wouldn’t want to answer, and Rhodey was determined to spare him from that, for at least a few hours. 


End file.
